Rory MacDonald announced his retirement earlier this week after he was bounced from the PFL playoffs.
MacDonald came to the PFL in 2021 after a run in Bellator in which he won the welterweight title. But he went 1-2 in his first season in the promotion and lost in the semifinals of the playoffs. This year, he suffered the same fate and was knocked out by short-notice replacement underdog Dilano Taylor.
After he was denied a shot at the $1 million welterweight final for the second straight year, the Canadian hung up his gloves. At 33, it would seem he had plenty of time left in the sport. But he had his first pro fight when he still was a teenager and has been fighting professionally for nearly 17 years.
He cited that lengthy time in a grueling sport as one of the reasons he’s walking away from a career that included a King of the Cage title, 13 UFC fights, a UFC title shot and a Bellator title.
But over the past nearly eight years, “The Red King” went 5-8-1 and lost five of his final seven bouts, starting with when he dropped the Bellator welterweight title. So just what will his MMA legacy be?
That’s what we asked our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Simon Samano, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Danny Segura, along with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia.
Check out their reaction in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s full episode below.
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Tuesday on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel. You can watch the full episode in the video below.
